


Berries and Sky

by Solanaceae



Category: Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins
Genre: Character Death, Foxface suicide-theory, first person POV
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-15
Updated: 2013-03-15
Packaged: 2017-12-05 10:10:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,306
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/721870
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Solanaceae/pseuds/Solanaceae
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Foxface's death was seen as a mistake. But how could the smartest tribute in the arena not have identified those nightlock berries? Maybe it was on purpose. Maybe she meant to die.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Berries and Sky

**Author's Note:**

> Written for a challenge on FFN by nb1998. Originally posted on FFN.

It doesn't even matter anymore. I'm not going to win, that's obvious. I haven't eaten for three days- if someone were to come upon me now, like this, I doubt I would have the strength to fight them off.

I lie on the forest floor, staring up through the branches above at the blue sky. I used to love staring at the sky. When I was younger, I would spend hours and hours with my eyes lost in that flawless blue, tracing the swirling white clouds. It was so peaceful. I'd give anything to be at home right now.

The wind rustles the leaves, shadows dappling my skin, patterns of light and dark shifting over the ground. If I was like that boy from District Twelve I could paint myself a camouflaging cover- he was doing that in training, wasn't he?

But I'm just that girl from Five, the one that no one expected to make it this far. The one who could only show the Gamemakers how well she could identify edible plants.

Like that helps me now, lying here in the dirt. I haven't found anything other than grass here. There are a few berries here that I don't recognize, so I won't risk them... and then there's the poisonous ones, the ones that can ease you into death like falling asleep. Faster than falling asleep, in fact.

This isn't the first time I've thought about that poison. Death by berry might be preferable to death by starvation.

But there's something in me that won't let me take the easy way out. That part that's determined to go down fighting, not passively slip away, forgotten.

I shift slightly, trying to roll over. The twigs beneath me dig into my back like little needles, but I can't summon the energy to sit all the way up. My head pounds as I move- I've been trying to ration my supply of water ever since I got driven away from my little pond by a few hunting Careers. I've been on the move since the District Two boy almost saw me after their supply incident.

Whoever blew that supply pile up did me a great favor. If I just had enough food to last a bit longer, maybe I could even win this.

But it always comes back to that, doesn't it? I don't have any food. And so I'm dying.

They call this the Hunger Games for a reason.

Two weeks ago- could it have really only been that long ago? It feels like a lifetime- the Escort called my name. And I stepped onto the stage, sure I would die. And nothing I've seen since has served to contradict that, except maybe seeing the Career's stockpile in ruins.

I smile slightly as that memory comes back. Standing there in the ashes of the Career's only hope, not having to worry about one wrong step blowing my sky-high... and knowing that now the Careers weren't the only ones that could win. That maybe the red-haired girl from District Five had a chance at coming home.

I couldn't help it. I laughed as I stood there, in the swirling cinders, head tilted back to the blue sky i love so much, shouting my elation to the heavens.

It hit me later that whoever had erased the Career's hope had also erased mine. Because that had been my only food supply for the past few days, ever since I had realized that the number of edible plants in the arena was far less than the number of poisonous ones. Almost like they wanted to make it harder to survive.

Well, of course they did. No show for the audience if there isn't a lot of death. Twenty-three deaths, to be exact.

The sound of footsteps reaches my ears and I force myself to roll under a bush, doing my best to hide myself from whoever's coming. It probably won't fool anyone, but maybe they aren't looking for other tributes to kill.

Peeking through the leaves piled in front of me, I catch sight of the dark-haired girl from Twelve. The girl who wore the flames at the parade. She's with her District partner, the blonde boy I saw with the Careers. Guess he ditched them for her.

They set out some food, cheese and apples, and the girl sets off with her bow in hand, obviously planning to hunt. The sight of that food makes my mouth water and my stomach cramp painfully. I bite my lip, trying to calm down. Now if only the boy would leave, too.

The boy hangs around for a few more minutes, peering amongst the bushes for berries, tossing a handful onto the ground next to the apples. He finally moves away and I burst out of the bushes. I'm still in control enough to only take a tiny bit of the cheese- too much and they'd notice, get suspicious, maybe look for me. It's the same thing I did with the Careers.

I close my eyes and moan slightly as the cheese hits my tongue, creamy and cool and everything I've needed for the past day. It's over far too soon, and I want so badly to take the rest... but I can't. They'd notice.

I turn to the berries and pick up and handful. This should be safe. They got them themselves, so they've got to be safe...

Or not.

Looking more closely, I recognize them and my heart sinks. Nightlock. Deadly poisonous. I eat these and I'm dead within a minute. So why did the boy get these?

The first thought I have is that it's a trap. They know I'm following them, they want to try and trick me into eating these so they're one step closer to victory. But... these two never seemed smart enough to think up something like that. And besides, how would they even know I'm here?

The obvious conclusion is that he has no idea what these are and figures that they're safe. In that case, they're both dead unless the girl has better plant identification skills than this idiot.

I back away from the food, still holding the berries. They're smooth and cool in my hand, their deep purple color mesmerizing. Even if I didn't know they were poisonous, they have a sort of fascinating sheen to them that seems to invite you to eat them, take them into you... and die.

I stare down at them, considering. I can't win. That much I've know all along. And really, right now I'm just so tired.

I just want it all to end. I don't want to have to do this anymore.

Sinking to my knees, I look up at the sky one last time. Maybe in whatever afterlife awaits me I'll just get to gaze at the sky all day long, like I used to do as a little kid. Maybe it'll be like home.

I press one berry to my mouth, feeling its satiny skin against my dry, chapped lips. Then I slip it inside, breaking its skin with my teeth. A splash of sweet-sour juice spreads across my tongue, making its way down my throat. A papery sensation follows it, like it's sucking moisture from the inside of my mouth and the back of my throat.

A soft, cold numbness, beginning in my fingertips and working its way through my veins like ice, spreads through me. I welcome it. It's like I'm slowly freezing, losing all feeling...

I won't have to feel this hunger, this pain anymore.

I fall back, eyes frozen open. The sky opens to welcome me, blue expanse like a field. There's a sweet lightness falling over me like a blanket, like I'm made of air and light and nothing else.

All that's left is the sky.


End file.
